BING(8) UNIX System Manager's Manual BING(8)
NAME
bing - compute point to point throughput using two sizes
of ICMP ECHO_REQUEST packets to pairs of remote hosts.
SYNOPSIS
bing [dDnrRPvVwz] [-c count] [-e samples] [-f samplefile]
[-i wait] [-p pattern] [-s small packetsize] [-S big pack-
etsize] host1 host2 [...]
DESCRIPTION
Bing determines bandwidth on a point-to-point link by
sending ICMP ECHO_REQUEST packets and measuring their
roundtrip times for different packet sizes on each end of
the link.
host1 is supposed to be the nearest end of the link, while
host2 is the other end.
The options are as follows:
-c count
Stop after count resets of the stats. Useful only in
conjunction with the -e option. Defaults to 1.
-d Set the SO_DEBUG option on the socket being used.
-D Display the measured throughput at every received
packet. By default, it is displayed only when the
computed value changes, which itself changes only
when the minimum roundtrip time for one of the packet
sizes changes.
-e samples
Reset stats after sending samples ECHO_REQUEST pack-
ets.
-f samplefile
Saves the bandwidth measurements to the file sample-
file.
-i wait
Wait wait seconds for each ECHO_REPLY packet. The
default is to wait for four seconds.
-n Numeric output only. No attempt will be made to
lookup symbolic names for host addresses.
-P Be pedantic regarding round-trip times.
Normally, bing assumes that the roundtrip time for a
small packet should always be smaller than the
roundtrip time for a big packet to the same host,
that for a given size the roundtrip time for host1
should always be smaller than the roundtrip time for
host2, and that the increase in the roundtrip time
between host1 and host2 should always be bigger for
big packets than for small packets.
bing takes advantage of this to better determine the
minimum roundtrip times.
Option -P disables this behaviour, in the unlikely
event it could be of any use someday. Even IP/X25
links are not weird enough to require this, though.
-p pattern
You may specify up to 16 ``pad'' bytes to fill out
the packet you send. This is useful for diagnosing
data-dependent problems in a network. For example,
``-p ff'' will cause the sent packet to be filled
with all ones.
-R Record route. Includes the RECORD_ROUTE option in the
ECHO_REQUEST packet and displays the route buffer on
returned packets. Note that the IP header is only
large enough for nine such routes. Many hosts ignore
or discard this option.
-r Bypass the normal routing tables and send directly to
a host on an attached network. If the host is not on
a directly-attached network, an error is returned.
This option can be used to ping a local host through
an interface that has no route through it (e.g.,
after the interface was dropped by routed(8)).
-s small packetsize
Specifies the number of data bytes to be sent in the
small packets. The default and minimum value is 44.
-S big packetsize
Specifies the number of data bytes to be sent in the
big packets. The default is 108. The size should be
chosen so that big packet roundtrip times are long
enough to be accurately measured (depending on clock
resolution and number of hops).
-u size increment
Specifies that bing should start sending packets of
the size of small packetsize and then increase the
size by size increment until it reaches big packet-
size.
-v Verbose output. ICMP packets other than ECHO_RESPONSE
that are received are listed.
-V Very verbose output. The roundtrip time of each
received echo is displayed.
-w Display possible warnings about roundtrip times all
the time. By default, warnings are printed only at
the end.
-z Fill packets with uncompressible (pseudo-random)
data.
Round-trip times and packet loss statistics are computed.
If duplicate packets are received, they are not included
in the packet loss calculation, although the round trip
time of these packets is used in calculating the mini-
mum/average/maximum round-trip time numbers. When the
specified number of loops have been made or if the program
is terminated with a SIGINT, a brief summary is displayed.
This program is intended for use in network testing, mea-
surement and management. Because of the load it can impose
on the network, it is unwise to use bing during normal
operations or from automated scripts.
BUGS
Many Hosts and Gateways ignore the RECORD_ROUTE option.
The maximum IP header length is too small for options like
RECORD_ROUTE to be completely useful. There's not much
that that can be done about this, however.
Some of the final stats (average throughputs) almost never
give a even marginally correct result.
SEE ALSO
netstat(1), ifconfig(8), ping(8), routed(8), traceroute(8)
AUTHOR
Pierre Beyssac <pb@fasterix.freenix.fr>
Port to Windows: Francois Gouget <fgouget@free.fr>